Wenlock Edge

Of course we couldn't visit Much Wenlock without taking a walk along the famous Wenlock Edge. From Much Wenlock we took the B4371 towards Church Stretton and stopped at Presthope. We followed the waymarked trail down from the car park and along through the woods, before turning uphill to join the path along the top of the ridge.

This goes along the top of a large quarry and the views are mostly to the south east. The quarry is still operational and there are signs warning to watch out for blasting...

...but there was none while we were there. But what is it that Little Miss has found here?

There were lots of little wild strawberries for the picking.

Yummy. Eventually we got to a place with the view we were looking for...

...across Hope Dale to the Long Mynd. Can you guess where we wanted to go next?

Much Wenlock

I moved offices in Telford this week and now have a much improved view compared to before. From the window I can see The Wrekin and, I think, a bit of Wenlock Edge. Which reminds me - I'd said I would describe some things we've done when the family has visited The Barn, and there are some I haven't mentioned yet. So time for a catch up. The first of them is the pretty little town of Much Wenlock...

Much Wenlock built up around the Abbey of St Mirburga, originally founded before 690 AD. The Abbey was refounded as a Cluniac Priory and rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries to create a large priory church, now a ruin...

But we weren't in the mood for visiting ruins, so had a walk around the town instead. If we had been more prepared we might have downloaded the excellent Town Walk Guide, but we just made up our own. There are lots of old timber-frame buildings...

... including the 16th Century Guildhall. The downstairs is still used as a market.

The borough of Much Wenlock was, at its height, the largest in England outside of London. On one of the walls you can see some of the original borough signs from when it encompassed 17 parishes. On the opposite was is this rather entertaining By-law...

... an early form of market-day traffic restriction - somewhat quainter than the new controversial Abbeygate St gates back home in Bury St. Edmunds!

Something I didn't know about Much Wenlock is its contribution to the modern Olympic Game movement. The Wenlock Olympian Games were founded by Dr William Penny Brookes in 1858. As the site says..

The concept was adopted and developed by various groups throughout the world and ultimately resulted in the first International Olympic Games in 1896. The local version of the games continue to this day, taking place every year in July.

The games were held in the Linden Field, and we went on a circular walk past the old station and along the route of the old railway line that went past it.

A pleasant walk, but now we wanted to get into the countryside proper...

BTW The Annual 3 week Much Wenlock Festival is on now. You can find details of what is on here

Update: Just spotted fellow Suffolk blogger Running in Suffolk's post on Much Wenlock from last year. It's worth a read.

St Edmunds Wheel 2008

Today is the annual St Edmunds Wheel charity Ride, Run and Walk, established in 1998. There is a choice of 15, 25, 50 or 100 mile cycle rides, 3 or 6 miles walk and relay race. I did the 25 mile ride 2 years ago, and enjoyed it a lot. I didn't get round to entering it this year, but I thought the kids would like to do the 3 mile walk. But I only got one taker - Little W, so we had a boy's morning out.

When I saw all the cyclists, I was wishing I'd just gone in for the 25 mile ride on the day. The T-shirts this year are a subdued grey colour (unlike the bright yellow ones in 2006).

We went to the Abbey gate to watch the cyclists start. Here are the 50 and 100-milers setting out shortly after 9 a.m.

We signed up for the walk and waited for the 10 o'clock start, only to find most of the walkers had set out as soon as they had registered, so there was only a select handful of us for the official start. We got a bottle of water, a banana and a Mars bar to keep us going, a map with detailed directions and an official participant's number to wear. Here is Little W showing off his.

It was mostly familiar territory to us, but I hadn't been along Cotton Lane before and it's a while since I'd been past College Square. The roses looked lovely.

We had a good conversation as we went. Little W reckoned he could manage the 100-mile cycle ride. What, on that gender-bender bicycle of his? 2 miles is about enough for him.

We were back in the Abbey Gardens in less than an hour and claimed our medals for completing the walk. Little W really liked that. "I've never won a medal before", he said.

Predictably, "You didn't tell me there would be medals", complained Little Miss when we got home and he displayed it with pride!

Two Years On

Last weekend marked the second anniversary of the end of my employment with CSC. Since then I had a marvellous summer exploring around Bury St Edmunds and spending time with the kids, then 3 months in Melbourne Australia and 3 months as a consultant before beginning my second life in Shropshire working for Capgemini - all described in my blog archives. Have I any regrets about leaving? No. None. But this is for my ex-colleagues (I know some who still read the blog). I hope you are amused at this photograph taken today. I take great pleasure in parking my car among the cars of all my fellow Capgemini workers still displaying my CSC car parking stickers!

Wot, No Chillis?

It was a gardening day yesterday. Normally we would have lots of chiili plants in pots, but this year we have only got six plants and lots of empty pots. All the pots got cleaned out, bar one...

Yes we still have the frog.

Rushbrooke Arms

"If you put all the ironing away and tidy your rooms, you can go out to lunch. Otherwise you will just get Cuppasoup", I said. Lo and behold, albeit after 3 previous inspections had resulted in a "Fail" verdict, the clothes had been put away and things were tidy(ish). The reward was a meal out at the Rushbrooke Arms in Sicklesmere, just out of Bury St Edmunds on the A134 towards Sudbury. It had been refurbished and there was a new menu since the last time we were there. Little W had the fish and chips, Little Miss the Lasagne and Big Miss a baked potato, while I had a steak sandwich. The food was excellent and there was the play area outside afterwards.

"For 4-12 years of age", says the labels on the equipment. Well Big Miss just had to pretend to be 5 weeks younger than she is.

Over lunch we discussed where to go in the afternoon. "Will the Maze be open?", asked Big Miss, when I suggested Nowton Park, just up the road. "I'm not sure. Why don't we find out?", I replied. So we did.

It is open, so we did the Maze Quiz. A different set of clues to last time, but then we couldn't remember them anyway. I helped Little W, but Big Miss just beat us to the last clue. Little Miss was not going to accept any help, but she too got there in the end. Great fun.

The Maze is open and quiz available until 22nd July. It's 50p a go - get your map and grid to capture your answers from the Rangers' hut by the car park.

Outdoor LAN Party

Spotted dotted around the village during our Glemsford walk yesterday, were these posters. "What is an outdoor LAN party? Not a Local Area Network, surely", I thought. I read the detail on the poster (if you click on the picture you should be able to read it too). Yes it really is an outdoor Local Area Network. For multi-player gaming, as this article explains. I wonder how many people they got? As the poster says, they were planning this as a 2 day event; I bet they cursed the weather last Sunday!

Glemsford Circular Walk

Looking for somewhere to take the kids today I came across the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project website. They have a set of leaflets you can download (from here), including a circular walk around Glemsford. It's not far from Bury St Edmunds - only about 12 miles (see here), but we had never been there. Perfect for a morning's expedition. I downloaded and printed off the leaflet and we set out. From the town centre we took the A143 towards Haverhill but turned onto the B1106, a pretty back road through a number of villages. We parked by the sign on Tye Green.

I didn't think the kids would manage the full 5 miles so we adapted the walk by heading up Shepherds Lane to Mill Hill Farm and joined the route there. The walk is not too demanding and the country views are good. We weren't the only ones out enjoying the country - we spotted this balloon in the distance.

According to the leaflet, this area along the valley bottom...

is apparently...

...known locally as "the queech", an old Suffolk word meaning an irregularly shaped field.

That made me laugh. My Mum has always mis-pronounced the French work quiche as "queech". Now I can tell her what it means.

The walk also takes you past some interesting buildings. Here is "Chequers" in Chequers Lane.

But the most impressive building must be the timber-framed Monks Hall, built in 1614.

By the time we got back to the village centre the kids were getting hungry, so we got a snack at Post Office and general store before heading home for our lunch of, wait for it....
...Quiche!

Abbeygate St Gates

Look what I spotted in town when visiting the Flower and Continental Market on Sunday. The council have installed some decorative black metal gates to replace the bollards that are used to close Abbeygate Street to traffic. I thought at the time that I didn't remember seeing them before and yes, they've only been there since Tuesday last week. I quite like them and the Missus agrees, but of course anything like this in Bury St Edmunds provokes wildly conflicting views - as reported on the Bury Free Press site here. Quite hilarious, I think.

Bank Holiday Seaside Visit

Of course everyone loves to visit the seaside on a Bank Holiday, don't they? As we were so close to the coast at Sutton Hoo, the Missus said "Why don't we go to the beach?". Well she had missed out when we went to Landguard Point last Sunday, so off we went to the nearest spot - East Lane, Bawdsey. As you can see, we didn't have to contend with massive crowds of seaside-lovers...

I think the Missus thought she might get a walk on the beach, but not much chance of that given the state of the sea and the tide. In fact this part of the coast is subject to fierce erosion, despite the sea defences.

The conical building is one of the 103 Martello towers erected along the coast to guard against a Napoleonic invasion and is in danger of falling into the sea. Oh never mind, read all about it for yourself by clicking on the photo of the sign, which explains all....

We had a bit of a walk along the Suffolk coastal path, but the little ones were a bit soggy from their earlier escapades at Sutton Hoo and the strong wind was in danger of giving them hypothermia, so we had to retreat to the car and head for home. Don't you just love British Bank Holiday weather?

Sutton Hoo - And More Rain

Another Suffolk place we have been meaning to visit for some time is Sutton Hoo, the famous Anglo-Saxon burial site near Woodbridge - here. The plan was to go on there from Helmingham Hall yesterday, but it was not to be. Instead we made a separate trip today. It's less than an hour from Bury St Edmunds - down the A14 past Ipswich to the A12 (N) and then turn right after Woodbridge onto the A1152 and follow the signs.

It was dry when we set out, but we had hardly got on the A14 before it started to rain, and by the time we got to Sutton Hoo... Well this was our view of the visitor centre when we arrived.

But at least we were able to do some things inside. The exhibition hall brightly informs with a video, children's quiz, lots of storyboards and replicas. (Alas, the real treasure is in the British Museum). Here is the replica of the famous helmet.

There is also a box of dressing up clothes and helmet for the kids to try on. Little W looked quite fierce as a Dark Ages warrior.

It being a Bank Holiday weekend, there was also entertainment from the Ormsgard Dark Ages Theatre. We sat through an interesting talk on The Runes...

It was still raining, so we decided to get some lunch before visiting the burial mounds. No picnic for us today, which is just as well - although there were plenty of picnic tables available.

Instead we ate in the restaurant, before putting our hoods up and heading out on the walk to the burial site.

"Ooh look. It's been snowing", said the Missus. Well no it hadn't, but the cosseted plants in the field next to the walk made it look like it.

We followed the red circular walk around the mounds. Here's one of them.

A good visit, but I can't help agreeing with this Telegraph Article that somehow, especially on a day like today, it would have been more atmospheric without all the modern tourist trappings.

Helmingham Hall NCCPG Plant Sale

For our family day out, mentioned earlier, we set out with our picnic to Helmingham Hall. It is normally open only on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons from May to September, and we've been meaning to go there for some time. It's signposted off the A1120 tourist route to the Suffolk coast and can be found here on the map. But yesterday it was open from 10:30 to host the Suffolk Group of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants & Gardens, who have a plant sale there twice a year.

Here's the Hall. It is surrounded by a moat and the two bridges both have drawbridge sections at the end.

Here's a section of the plant sale. I didn't count them, but I would guess there were about 20 stands selling a large variety of plants.

While Little W and I went to see the knot garden, the girls spent some time foraging at this stand selling lots of unusual herbs...

...emerging with 3 amazing mints (chocolate, blackcurrant and ginger) and a woolly thyme. We also got some chilli plants - Hot Lemon, Chi-Chen and Aji Benito varieties, and 3 free not-quite-so-rare-anymore foxgloves.

"The rain is only supposed to last 2 hours", said The Missus. Hmm. Well I'd got drenched at the Continental market more than 2 hours earlier and it didn't look like it was getting any drier. But we just had to explore the gardens, which are really rather splendid...

...even in the rain. Ooh look. The kids have found some shelter...

No room there for a picnic. We returned to the car looking as drowned as any pack of rats you could imagine. I looked at the roof of the car...

After nearly 11 years living in Suffolk, this was definitely our wettest day out ever. "I know somewhere dry we can have our picnic", I said...

Yes, we went home, got some dry clothes on, and had our picnic at the kitchen table!

P.S. You can see more of my pictures of the Hall and Gardens here on Flickr.

Bury St Edmunds Flower and Continental Market

Today and tomorrow there's a flower and continental market on. So if you're needing some plants for the garden or fancy some french nosh, don't miss out. I got there this morning just as the rain started to get heavier. Shame...

I'm afraid Icycle wont be selling too many ice-creams today!

There are loads of plant stalls, but I headed for the French sector. First up, the bakers...

Pain-au-chocolat is a great favourite with the kids, so I got some for them. But now something for me. Some french cheeses...

And then it was on to the sausage stall...

I was given a sample of the venison sausage. Yummy. So I got some Venison, Smoked and Garlic flavoured sausages. There were also stalls selling hot food for consumption there and then or to take home. There was a stall with giant dishes of paella, and this one with its Croque Monsieur, Cassoulet, Turkey, pepper, mushroom and onion stew and this delicious looking Tartiflette Bacon.

But I didn't get any for lunch as, while I was at the market the Missus was preparing a picnic for a family day out... No I'm not joking! More anon!

P.S. Sausage boy Little W thinks the french sausages are ace.